


Paris

by Twostep



Series: The Old World Trilogy [2]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017) RPF
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Paris - Freeform, Romance, father forgive me for i have sinned etc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 08:28:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14233290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twostep/pseuds/Twostep
Summary: If we go down then we go down togetherWe'll get away with anythingLet's show them we are better





	Paris

**Author's Note:**

> Am I trash? Yes. Are you trash? Probably.

“Are you ready for this?” Cole asked, phone in hand.

 

“No,” said Lili where she sat, cross-legged on the bed. “But I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. And I think you’re right. It’s for the best.”

 

Control the narrative. That was the plan. Choose the battlefield, on foreign soil where there’s less interest. Where they’re not household names. 

 

“I’m making the call,” he said, pressing the call button.

 

Half an hour later, the deal had been made. An exclusive photographer for the rest of their stay, and a chance to preview before publishing. 

 

“They said they can’t guarantee we’ll be safe from rogues,” he said.

 

“Is anyone ever?”

 

“So,” he said, flopping down on the bed next to her. “One last night of relative freedom. Before all hell breaks loose. What do you want to do?”

 

Lili narrowed her eyes and gave him a mischievous smile. “Let’s go sightseeing. Paris by night.”

 

Cole frowned. This whole plan relied on being completely in charge of how and when the pictures were taken and published. 

 

“That’s… that’s probably not a good idea,” he said.

 

“Didn’t you say that you were able to walk the streets of Paris like a regular man last time you were here?”

 

“Yeah, but no one knew I was here in the first place. Like, the average Parisian madame does not know who Cody Martin is. But people have literally flown over from back home because we’re here. Last thing I heard, someone was trying to pitch a tent in the park across from the hotel.”

 

“Good, then we know where they are, and I know... a back entrance. Trust me on this, okay?”

 

And with that she headed for the bathroom, dragging her suitcase along behind her.

 

“What are you doing?” called Cole after her.

 

“Getting ready! Just trust me, okay?”

 

‘Getting ready’ was apparently an exercise that required all of one hour and ten minutes, and Cole had nearly fallen asleep to a dubbed version of Law and Order by the time she was done. When someone finally emerged from the bathroom, he nearly fell off the bed in surprise. The woman in the doorway was a straight-haired brunette in unfamiliar clothes, and for a brief second he thought that some crazy fan had managed to sneak in and knocked Lili out. Then she smiled, and he knew it was her.

 

“What the…” he said, stunned.

 

Not only was she wearing a wig, but she had used makeup to change the very features of her face. Her mouth looked smaller and her nose different somehow. The eyes were the biggest giveaway, because there was no covering up how large and beautiful they were, but the eyebrows were a little thicker, and at a different angle. She was dressed in dark, skinny jeans that were ripped over the knees, and a striped, slightly oversized wool jumper that he had never seen before.

 

“Meet Mila!” said Lili, throwing out her hands.

 

“Wow,” said Cole, shaking his head in disbelief. He’d known she was a good amateur makeup artist, but this was something else. “Who, pray tell, is Mila?”

 

“A backpacker from Auckland,” she said, perfectly mimicking KJ’s Kiwi accent to pronounce it ‘beckpecker’.

 

“You know,” he said, clearing his throat. “You could have saved some cash and just used The Wig.”

 

Lili’s eyes hardened briefly. “Don’t go there,” she said. “I _will_ take Skeet up on that offer.”

 

Their co-star had jokingly offered to house Cole on the couch in his room if he proved himself too much of a nuisance. 

 

“Sorry,” he said, holding his hands up. “It won’t happen again. But speaking of wigs… Lils, you look amazing..ly different, but…” he motioned at his own hair “…this is kinda hard to miss.”

 

“Right,” said Lili with a determined nod. “Your turn.”

 

In the bathroom, she sat him down on a low stool and set to work. She grumbled a little about his hair and used some kind of product to make it lie flat against his scalp.

 

“Are you turning me into a stock broker?” he joked.

 

“Just making sure nothing’s sticking out,” she said before whipping out a chunky knit hat that would have looked at home at Burning Man and forcing it down on his head.

 

After that, it was time for the makeup. She worked intently, focusing on his nose and cheeks, her brow knotting in concentration. It was weird, having her so close to his face when she looked so different.

 

“It’ll have to do,” she said critically once she was finished. “It’s dark after all.”

 

His face in the mirror was an eerie thing to behold. His cheeks seemed rounder and his eyes a little sad. Most obviously, though, his otherwise straight nose looked a little crooked. It was not a good look.

 

“I’m ugly,” he complained.

 

“I didn’t pick you for your good looks,” said Lili, patting his hat. When he gave her a hurt glance, she rolled her eyes and gave him a quick kiss. Then she handed him a worn hoodie. “Now this is why I went thrifting that time in Vancouver.”

 

That had been weeks ago thought Cole as he pulled it on. “How long have you been planning this?” he asked.

 

“Since I went thrifting that time in Vancouver,” she said patiently.

 

Lili deemed his jeans acceptable, and once her look was completed with a beanie that hid her hairline, they regarded themselves in the mirror. At a glance, it worked. By now it was fully dark outside and they might just get away with this. Now there was only one problem left.

 

“How the hell are we getting out?” he asked.

 

Lili grinned. “Follow me,” she said.

 

A few minutes later they were standing on the top floor veranda, looking out over the rooftops. To the left of them was a short ladder leading up to the roof of the hotel. With a deep, determined breath, Lili took hold of a rung.

 

“Lili…” said Cole.

 

“ _Trust_ me,” said Lili and started climbing.

 

“It’s not that I’m scared of heights - I’m not - but this is…” he said as he followed.

 

“It’s fine, I know what I’m doing.”

 

The hotel roof connected to the next house along, and the next, and so on, and they slunk quietly along like shadows up and down ladders until they arrived at another terrace. This one seemed to belong to a fancy restaurant, lit by multi-colored fairy lights. They looked down at the tables below. Most of them were empty, but a few dinner guests were enjoying meals or glasses of wine.

 

“Okay, this is where it gets risky,” Lili whispered.

 

“When did you plan all of this?” Cole whispered back.

 

“Shh,” she hushed him. Then she nodded at a corner of the terrace. “See that door over there? That’s the fire exit. We’ll just head over there, pretending like we know what we’re doing.”

 

“Lili, these people are wearing Prada and Chanel and we look like a couple of students who lie about growing up in Brooklyn.”

 

“Like I said, risky. Let’s go.”

 

Luckily no one spotted them moving down the ladder in the shadowy corner of the terrace, and as they passed an empty table, Lili snatched up a blanket and a half-full glass of wine and moved on with determination. Suddenly she looked a lot less like Mila the backpacker and a lot more like someone who was on their way to complain about cork in the wine. A couple of people glanced at them as they passed, but no one questioned them. For a moment, Cole panicked internally about the fire exit. What if it was locked? What if it set off an alarm? But as Lili pushed the handle, neither of those things happened, and just like that they were alone in a grimy stairwell.

 

“Nice,” said Cole, and they started down the stairs.

 

They had made it a floor and a half down when the door above them opened.

 

“ _Hey! Qu’est-ce que vous fait?_ ” a man called from up there.

 

“Shit, let’s go,” said Lili, and they started running.

 

“ _Arrête toi là!_ ”

 

They practically flew down the stairs until they reached the bottom where Lili pushed the door open and they stumbled out into a dark alley. A short sprint later, Cole threw a look over his shoulder. No one was following, so he reached out for Lili and slowed down.

 

“We lost him. I guess he didn’t think it was worth it,” he said, huffing.

 

“What now?” said Lili, looking around, also breathing hard.

 

They were standing near one of the boulevards leading to the Arc de Triomphe, and Cole glanced at the people moving along the sidewalk, perhaps on their way home from socializing, or on their way out into the night. No one seemed to take notice of them.

 

“I thought you had a plan,” he said.

 

“The plan was to get us out unnoticed, so. Mission accomplished, right? But you’re the one who knows Paris.” She grabbed at his hand. “Show me something beautiful.”

 

It wasn’t the first time she’d uttered those words, and usually he was always happy to oblige. To take her somewhere where it was just the two of them and a field, a forest, a mountain. But this was _Paris_.

 

“What if we’re seen?” he asked.

 

“Does this look like me?” she asked, motioning at her face.

 

“No, but…”

 

“Come _on_ ,” she said, dragging him down the street.

 

“Okay, okay, but…” he said, playfully resisting her pull.

 

“But what?”

 

“If you want to see something beautiful we’re going the wrong way.”

 

Walking hand in hand in a big city was a strange and wondrous thing. At first he felt apprehensive, second-guessing every face they passed on the sidewalk, but when no one spared them a second glance he gradually relaxed, feeling more and more comfortable with her fingers interlocked with his. 

 

The darkness was their friend and they both knew better than to take their chances with the Metro.

 

“It’s going to be a long walk,” he warned her after a few minutes.

 

“I’ll live,” she said. “Where are we going?”

 

“Montmartre.”

 

“Hmm,” she said with a frown. “That’s… unexpectedly predictable.”

 

“Come on. I’ve been here before, but I’m not an expert. It’s a safe bet, okay?”

 

The journey soon became part of the goal as they reveled in their freedom, stopping to take crappy mobile selfies by an art nouveau style Metro station, lingering by an estate agent’s window and trying to figure out how much a studio apartment Plaine-Monceau was in dollars, and taking a short break to get coffee and pastries from a late night café. It was almost an hour before they reached the Moulin Rogue - a sure sign that they were nearing their destination.

 

“I guess we’re here,” said Lili in a tone that pled ‘no more walking’.

 

“Just a bit further,” Cole promised. 

 

Lili squinted along the street. “Up or down?”

 

“Well… Think of it like this. It’ll be downhills on the way back.”

 

“Oh my god,” she whined, but followed as they turned up a side street, and then up another one. Then, as they reached the end of it, she gasped. “Oh my god,” she said again.

 

The Sacré-Cœur shone bright white against the dark sky above them, and although they still had a steep street and another climb to go, Lili’s energy seemed renewed as she dragged him along behind her.

 

“That’s not even the best part,” he said.

 

“How is that not the best part,” she said, disbelieving.

 

A few minutes later they were sitting on the low wall encircling the basilica’s vista point, dangling their legs and looking down at the sparkling, sprawling lights of Paris below.

 

“Okay, yeah, this is the best part,” Lili admitted.

 

It really is, thought Cole. In less than twenty-fours hours’ time, the not-secret would be out. Their faces would be on gossip blogs all over the internet, and his phone would be blowing up with notifications. Actually, no, his phone would be turned off. But right now, high above the glittering capital, they were truly in the calm before the storm. 

 

“A new life tomorrow,” he said.

 

Lili sighed. “You just had to ruin the moment, didn’t you?”

 

“Sorry.”

 

She squeezed his hand tightly. “I keep thinking about it too, you know.”

 

“Lili, you don’t have to. I can still call it off.” He wasn’t sure he could.

 

“No you can’t,” she said. “We’re in this together now.”

 

Together. That was where he wanted to be. He knew he was the main reason why this was happening, why this had to happen. But he knew he could help her through it, too. Together, they could do it. 

 

He turned to look at her and was once again startled by her hair, her makeup, and how she looked kind of like Lili but then again not like her at all.

 

“I want to kiss you, but…” he said.

 

“No one has recognized us for over an hour, Cole.”

 

“Yeah, that’s… kind of the problem. You don’t even look like you.”

 

She rolled her eyes, and yes, they were unequivocally hers. “Then don’t look, you dork.”

 

And for one night only, he thought as he closed his eyes, absolutely no one was looking at them, kissing in the streets of Paris.


End file.
